jri4

I have a 75 gallon tank with African Cichlids (10 of them so far) and one Catfish. I am running an Aquaclear 110 (500 GPH) Power Filter right now, and am looking to purchase a canister filter to go along with it. How big (gph) of a canister filter should I be looking at? Any suggestion on models to look at?

outlaw

Personally I use an Odyssea CFS4 which is rated upto 100Gal on our 46Gal (with a Tetratec PF300) and can't say I have had any issues, either with install or operations and cleaning. I have read reviews were this is just a Chinese "knock-off" of Eheims Canister filter. So far though for xxx amount less I have no complaints. I haven't used an Eheim to actually compare it to but my tank water is clear enough to make it look like the fish are floating. I am sure you will get quite a bit of responses with different recommendations though. Best way is to read reviews and see what people have to say about all the different ones. Good Luck!

oh at btw, since you have cichlids and that catfish, you definitely want to over filter since they are "dirty" fish.

jri4

Thanks!

Since I am getting 500 gph out of my Aquaclear HOB, I was thinking about not worrying so much about power or quality of the canister. The Odyssea looks great, with a 317 gph output. That would put me at 817 gph water flow in a 75 gallon tank! I am also looking at the Penn Plax Cascade 1000 (265 gph) or a Rena Filstar XP2 (300 gph)

Any suggestions would be appreciated, or input on which filter is the best to partner up with my Aquaclear 110

outlaw

Heres a few reviews on the Cascade 1000 from Amazon. Sounds like a good filter.

Heres a few reviews on the XP2 from Amazon. Same thing, sounds like a good filter.

Looks like you got a tough decision. Probably come down to final price and your preference. Hopefully someone will come in here that owns one of those and be able to give you a little more info. If you have any questions about the Odyssea, please feel free to ask.

Good Luck with your decision!

jri4

Thank you so much for your help! For the price, yet still being a common brand, I am leaning towards the Penn Plax. They are also on sale at Petco (I think?). The 1000 is only 99.97. I am also going to try eBay and all that junk... I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with the filter though!